A New Life
by ling50
Summary: What if Qing Er found out she is pregnant with Xiao Jian's baby after he was sent away. My take on HZGGIII with this scenario, along with a few other changes.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm a new writer, so please be nice.

Chapter 1

Qing Er sat on her bed in silence, staring at the night sky. She was supposed to be sleeping and had sent the servants out already. Like everyday, she couldn't sleep. It had already been a long month since Xiao Jian had been forced to leave the palace, probably never to be seen again. But she hoped, no, she knew, that she would see him again someday. They had beaten odds with everything. Everything that had been impossible seemed to miraculously happen to them. She would wait until that day. She knew it was only a matter of time. A year, 5 years, even 20 years. She would still keep on waiting. She didn't care what would say, but she would stay single and she would wait. Wait until a time he was accepted, or they successfully eloped.

She imagined where he would be right now. Perhaps on a horse, galloping down to Dali to visit his godparents. Or not, perhaps he would still be lurking around the city. He wasn't the type to simply turn away after hitting a snag. She both hoped and hoped not for him to be planning to sneak her out of the palace. He was already reluctant to leave without her and expressed his wishes on taking her with him. She knew it wouldn't be easy to him to simply let it go. But she was worried of the dangers, and knew that he very well knew it too. Not to mention what the affect would have on everybody else, especially Xiao Yan Zi. What if she paid the ultimate price if they had eloped successfully. That couldn't happen.

With a yawn, she leaned against the wall. was all she could think of. But the night passed, and she finally fell asleep albeit in an awkward position with the sheets not even covering her.

She was woken up the next day by her servants.

"Ge Ge, you've been sleeping on top of your sheets in a fetal position with your head at the foot of the bed. Why did you sleep like that last night? I hope you are not going to get sick."

Qing Er yawned again.

"Come again?" She stretched her legs but refused to get up, closing her eyes again.

"Ge ge, just wake up, it's morning already. Your food is ready too."

The servants nudged her several times before she finally pulled her arms and sat upright. One handed her a bowl of soup, which she drank, but not eagerly. She looked at each and every one of her servants with a blank look. It was a staring contest for a few moments.

"Ge ge, it's time to get dressed."

Qing Er stood up slowly but felt a little uneasy and wobbled. She placed a hand to her stomach and a small substance came up her throat, and she puked it out.

"Ge ge, you're sick. Call the tai yi."

"No. I'm fine." reached out a hand, pulling back the arm of one servant who had started turning away.

"You look sick, you slept badly last night."

"I'm just fine, okay. Let's get dressed first"

The servants obeyed and were sent away as soon as she was fully dressed.

She now stared at the sun, and held a hand to her stomach again. This was the third time this week it had happened. At this point, she was pretty clear that was wasn't sick, having seen the same thing happen with numerous other women. She counted the days. It had been 6 weeks since the failed elope. She thought back to that one night. They never thought they would be back at the palace, but rather the start of a whole new life. They thought they could finally be together and have a family.

Well, it looks like she'd get her wish sooner than expected. But what would happen if found out? No matter what, she would protect this child. Perhaps it could be what could bring them together. Hopefully. That is, if Lao Fo Ye didn't decided the baby had to go. One thing for she, she had to go to Jing Yang Gong immediately.

Walking out without breakfast and the servants calling out to her, she quickly meandered the corridors and crossed the courtyards until she reached her destination. It was quiet. At least there wasn't a fight going on inside, which happened way too often.

The eunuchs promptly announced her presence and a bubbly figure bounded out the doors and ran straight to her, grabbing her in a bear hug.

"Qing Er! I'm so glad you're here. Come inside, Yong Qi and I are alone. Zhi Hua is with Lao Fo Ye right now."

Qing Er asked the servants to leave and closed all the doors and windows.

"What is going on, is something happening?" Yong Qi was the first to ask, as Qing Er seated herself at the table.

"I don't know how to say this but, I'm pregnant."

Two sets of eyes stared her, saying in unison, "What?"

"I didn't call a taiyi of course, but I'm sure. I got morning sickness three times this week."

Everyone sat in silence as they comprehended what she had said.

"Now Lao Fo Ye called the wedding off, sending Xiao Jian away and forced Zhi Hua to marry Yong Qi."

At this Xiao Yan Zi started calling Zhi Hua names and proceeded to bang the table.

Yong Qi grabbed her hands and shushed her, allowed Qing Er to continue.

"It happened when we eloped. We didn't know we would return to the palace or have a wedding then. I know it was sudden, but we thought we were free. We were going to marry as soon as we got to Dali."

Three pairs of eyes looked at one another. What were they going to do? This would definitely get out. There was definitely no way they were going to hide a pregnancy eventually, no matter what happened. There were several things going on in their minds. What was going to happen to the baby? How were they going to let Xiao Jian know what happened, wherever he might be? And finally, what is going to happen between them.

One thing, they had to get a hold of the entire gang, quickly. Perhaps they could keep it under wraps for a couple weeks until they get a plan together but sooner or later people are going to notice.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Really sorry for taking two months, I guess I'm lazy besides I didn't know what to write. Thank you to the four people who reviewed and everyone else for reading.

I also made a couple changes to the first chapter, mainly spelling mistakes and editing a couple of paragraphs that seemed to skip and didn't make sense.

Chapter 2

The next day had everyone gathered at Hui Bing Lou, minus Zhi Hua. They picked the time she was with Lao Fo Ye again and rushed out. Needless to say, she was angry when she came back find everyone gone. Lao Fo Ye sighed. Those children keep running out of the palace. She was tired of that behaviour, but was used to it, she had to in the last 5 years. What made her really upset was they had not included Zhi Hua. Before she was upset that everyone took a liking to Xiao Yan Zi and were roped into whatever craziness ensues. She at least was glad Zhi Hua hasn't been roped into it all, not that she expected it due to the circumstances of her marriage and the general dislike of her.

Everyone sat in a guest room of the restaurant. Jin Suo and Liu Qing was sitting on a bed with a 2 and 4-year-old playing on the mattress behind them and a baby in a crib. Everyone else had grabbed chairs and sat in a wide half circle.

The story had been explained amidst a lot of suprised and shocked expressions and comments from everyone. This is one situation they were never prepared for, yet had to deal with. With their track record of making everything impossible happen, they were still pretty apprehensive on what would happen this time around. They had dealt plenty with couples that weren't accepted at first, but none of it involved such a deep feud nor a baby. Well, they had dealt with a baby before, but it was a completely different situation.

One thing everyone agreed on was searching for Xiao Jian. He had to know what was going on. They all concluded that most likely he had to be hanging around Beijing, knowing that he hated having to leave Qing Er behind. He couldn't have let go that easily. What did cross their minds was that he might have wandered around in despair.

If he had stayed in Beijing they drew up a list of places he might have gone, hoping that he wouldn't hide himself. On the other hand, if he had, and was spying around, he would find out they were looking for him and appear.

They planned on splitting into three groups. Er Kang and Zi Wei would go to the old couple's home they had stayed when they had all eloped, Liu Qing and Liu Hong would go to the cabin Zi Wei and Jin Suo had stayed in, and Xiao Yan Zi, Yong Qi, and Qing Er would go to Baiyun Guan, the temple that Xiao Yan Zi had lived as a child. Liu Qing and Jin Suo's children would stay behind in the care of the residents that lived in their old Da Zha Yuan.

Er Kang and Zi Wei was on a horse journeying to the outskirts of the city where Xiao Jian's friends, Lao Ou and his wife Ou Sou had lived. It was good they had remembered the way, the direct path. After their first encounter when Xiao Jian had led the way, albeit a meandering and winding path to escape the Palace soldiers, they had visited them again 3 years ago, in a much more relaxed atmosphere.

Zi Wei looked up behind her.

"I almost can't believe this is happening. Especially with Qing Er. It's like, so unreal. Who would have thought it could happen?"

"Same for me, Zi Wei. Not that we should have anything to say about their actions. Matters of the heart for thousands of years have driven people to all sorts of things. They had also been waiting for 5 years, besides having the most difficulties in getting acceptance."

"That does make sense. They had already been making wedding plans and jumped the gun one passionnate night, unfortunately not knowing they'd get separated again. No one would have known the difference if they had their marriage in Dali or if the palace wedding had actually gone through."

"Anyone might get fed up of waiting someday. Besides, we're almost there."

A couple minutes later, they had tied their horse to a post and walked in the yard, calling out.

"Lao Ou! Ou Sao! Anyone here? Xiao Jian?" Er Kang called out.

"It's us, Zi Wei and Er Kang." Zi Wei added.

A shuffling noise was heard and a door opened and a grey haired old man popped out. "Who's out there? Who came to visit us old heads?" On seeing the guests he widened the door, welcoming them inside. "How long has it been, it's great to see you. It's been what, 2 or 3 years? Where's everyone else or is it just you two?"

They greeted him in return and took the cup of tea that was offered and sat down at the table.

"My wife is at the market. Should be back before half a shichen later. We haven't had visitors in a long time. Even Xiao Jian hadn't visited in months. What brings you over here?"

The one sentence confirmed that Xiao Jian hadn't been here, though there was the off chance that Xiao Jian had asked them to say he wasn't there, but they kicked that far out thought out of their minds. They had a friendly stay, talking about the happenings the past 2 years. They had let him know that they were looking for Xiao Jian without explaining the entire story. It was not a matter to burden them with yet. Ou Sao had just arrived before they left, reminding them that it was time they had to leave.

"Let's hope the others had better luck, don't think he's been here. We're going back to the restaurant. They might already be there." Er Kang hopped back on the horse and then Zi Wei hopped on in front. They waved goodbye to the couple.


End file.
